The district's board of education members said following a spring levy defeat that they would make nearly $500,000 in budget cuts. That included all non-state mandated transportation starting this past summer and – if Tuesday's levy failed – the elimination of teaching positions in 2017 for the district that includes parts of Miami Twp. and Moraine.
Instead, the approval of new taxes in the district for the first time in nearly a decade means busing for all preschoolers, high schoolers and those who live within two miles of school will be reinstated Jan. 4, said Superintendent Rusty Clifford.
"And we do not have to cut 20 to 25 teachers. That would have been draconian," Clifford said.
“When you lose 20 to 25 teachers, then you lose those programs, activities and initiatives – many of which are outside the classroom, before school, after school, during the summer – that go with those folks,” he added. “Because as the size of your staff decreases, then the opportunities to provide those other things that we know make it a comprehensive educational experience in the district.”
Some administrative cuts made after the spring levy defeat will remain, Clifford said. Those involved eliminating two jobs and reconfiguring certain duties.
“We tried to be efficient in what we’re doing and tried to stay as far from the classroom as possible,” he said. “It doesn’t directly impact the kids.”
Slightly more than 55 percent of the 12,105 voters casting ballots supported the levy, according to final but unofficial results from the Montgomery County Board of Elections. Its passage will cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $192 more a year while generating nearly $1.93 million annually, the county auditor’s office has said.
Additional revenue, district officials have said, is needed because caps in the state funding formula and phasing out of the tangible personal property tax reimbursements have put West Carrollton into deficit spending with its nearly $40 million budget.
From 2013-2015, the district has had budget deficits of about $1.59 million, $903,000 and $1.01 million, respectively, records show. This year, spending outpaced revenues by $3.76 million.
With the levy’s approval, the district that had been showing projected shortfalls in the coming years is now on firmer ground, Clifford said.
As part of the fallout from the spring levy defeat, more than 500 members of the West Carrollton Education Association and the West Carrollton Classified Employees Association agreed to a one-year pay freeze.
It marked the fourth time in seven years district employees had gone without a pay hike, Clifford said, noting, “We’ll be back negotiating in the spring.”
Two issues important to last week’s passage of the levy was a “clear message that was delivered face to face, door to door” by hundreds of volunteers and the three chairs who oversaw the campaign, Clifford said.
The efforts by Miami Twp. Board of Trustees President Doug Barry, Moraine Mayor Elaine Allison and West Carrollton Mayor Jeff Sanner provided a big boost, he said.
“When (voters) were able to hear the voice of those elected officials, which have tremendous credibility in our school district,” Clifford said, “that’s huge.”
Sanner said it may be the first time the mayors of the two cities and the president of the township trustees came together in such a fashion.
“We just let people know how serious it was,” he said, “and the need for the funds to continue to operate” the district.
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